No tour of Middle East conflict zones could be complete without a stop at Sderot, an Israeli town of 24,000 that stands uncomfortably close to the Gaza Strip. The rain of rockets out of the Palestinian enclave has made Sderot famous for two things: the thickness of its roofs (even bus stops have reinforced concrete tops); and the collection of crumpled missiles arrayed in racks behind the police station. As a visiting VIP in 2008, U.S. Senator Barack Obama dutifully inspected what the machine shops of Islamic Jihad and Hamasfashioned from lengths of pipe and scrap metal. Low-tech doesn’t begin to cover it.

It’s a long way up the Mediterranean coast from Sderot to Haifa, and even farther to the showroom of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., the weapons-development branch of Israel’s military-industrial complex. Hi-tech doesn’t begin to cover it. Rafael developed the first precision-guided munitions — the precursor to the American-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions that replaced “dumb bombs” — and scores of other battlefield innovations, from IED detectors to floating drones. But the company’s most acclaimed invention is the one now President Obama will inspect moments after arriving in Israel on Wednesday: Iron Dome. It is a missile-interception system that has performed what Israelis regard as a miracle, draining a good bit of the fear out of the wail of an air-raid siren. During the last Gaza conflict, which lasted a week in November, Iron Dome knocked out of the sky a reported 84% of the missiles it aimed at — that is, the ones headed toward population centers. The rockets headed for open space its computers simply let fall. Rafael executives are understandably proud of Iron Dome, which after a few months on the job is performing at the level of a system that’s had seven years to work out the kinks. But they appear even prouder of the unlikely philosophy behind it. To make the most-tested, if not the most effective antimissile system in military history, Israeli engineers took a page from the Gaza militants they aimed to frustrate. The secret to Iron Dome is that it’s cheap.

Consider the problem of volume. Since 2005, Gaza militants have fired more than 4,000 of their homemade rockets into Israel. Most cost a few hundred dollars each. Interceptors typically cost a few hundred thousand. “The main question that everyone asks is, ‘You’re firing a very costly missile against something very cheap,'” says Joseph “Yossi” Horowitz, a retired air-force colonel who markets air-and-missile defense systems at Rafael. “So our main mission was to reduce the cost.”

The economizing would be across the board, but the biggest savings were realized by reducing the size of the missile’s eyes — by far the most expensive component. An interceptor missile locks onto its target by following directions from the radar in its nose cone, typically packed with radio-frequency sensors of extravagant unit cost. An interceptor carried by a fighter jet has to be very smart, because it’s expected to find a missile being fired in its direction before it’s even in sight, one that could come from any direction. The nose-cone radar of an AIM/AMRAAM has so many RFs, or radio-frequency nodes, that it runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But a homemade missile coming out of Gaza is simply ballistic: it goes up and comes down. Rafael realized its launch and trajectory can be detected by ground radar, which would then transmit that information to the Iron Dome interceptor launched into the area of the sky where it’s headed. Only when the two missiles come near one another does the interceptor’s own radar come alive, guiding it to the incoming Qassam or GRAD and colliding with its own nose — where the warhead is positioned — in midair. It’s a delicate business, what with each missile traveling at 700 m per second.

“I can bring the interceptor in an accurate way, near the target, which means I can use the radar, the ‘seeker’ for a very short time,” says Horowitz. The shorter the time, the fewer the RF sensors required. “Saves money,” he says. How much? “Two digits: from hundreds of thousands of dollars to several thousand dollars.”

The savings mount up. Most guided missiles are made of so-called exotic materials, complex polymers designed to prevent the rocket from expanding or contracting as it travels through different altitudes. Again, not necessary for Iron Dome, which ascends only a few thousand feet. “Here we did it with aluminum,” Horowitz says. “Went across the street. Got some pipe.”

The result is visible in this extraordinary YouTube video from a wedding in Beersheba, an Israeli city of 200,000. The incoming missiles are not visible in the night sky until the ascending Iron Dome interceptors find and destroy them — again and again and again. “We can do more, but in this video we do 12,” says Horowitz, a reserve colonel in the Israeli military’s air-defense section. “You are not looking for the best of the best. You are looking for some optimization.”

At about $50 million per battery — the launchers with 20 missiles each, ground radar and command-and-control center, led by an officer equipped with an abort button — Iron Dome still costs plenty, especially since Israel estimates it would need at least 13 of them to protect the entire country. It currently has five. But the U.S. Congress voted about $300 million to help close the gap, which is why the Israel Defense Forces will truck a battery to Ben Gurion Airport on Wednesday to be photographed behind the American President.

That no previous antimissile system has performed so impressively might raise awkward questions about the norms of defense procurement in other nations. (For David’s Sling, the Israeli version of the Patriot 3, the U.S. intermediate-range interceptor that costs about $5 million per interceptor, Rafael is partnering with Raytheon, an American firm, and still aims do the job for one-quarter of the cost.) But for Israelis, the more pressing question is how to define success.

Back to the Beersheba wedding. The revelry appears to carry on oblivious to the wail of air-raid sirens competing with the DJ (that song in the background is “Sunday Morning” by Maroon 5). If Israelis no longer scramble to shelters, then Iron Dome really has changed the dynamic. It’s not yet at that point; schools still close when the rockets fly, and parents stay home from work. But Rafael’s head of research and development, who began work on Iron Dome even before the government thought to ask for it, tells TIME that its overarching accomplishment is that it can break the pernicious cycle of escalation that can lead to things like invasions. The batteries can liberate Israel’s elected leaders from the public pressure that comes with mass casualties. “The big success of Iron Dome is not how many missiles we intercept,” says Roni Potasman, the executive vice president for R&D. “The main success is what happened in the decisionmaking civilian population environment. The quiet time. Clausewitz used to say the mission of the military is to provide the time for the decisionmakers to decide. Now, if out of 500 missiles, 10 of them get by and cause casualties, a school or kindergarten, then this is a whole different story.”

The more stubborn problem is that, even though Iron Dome knocked down 400 of the rockets fired out of Gaza in the last round of fighting, Hamas acts as though it prevailed in the conflict. What’s more, polls show 80% of Palestinians think so too, while only 1 in 4 Israelis think their side prevailed. Israeli warplanes killed scores of senior militants and destroyed hundreds of missiles and launchers on the ground, including Fajr-5 from Iran. But Hamas and Islamic Jihad still launched their own version of the Fajr, dubbed the M-75, toward Tel Aviv and Jerusalem — unsettling Israelis who had previously considered themselves out of range and had not heard an air-raid siren since the Gulf War.

“[Gaza militants] were hit badly, much more than four years ago, but still I think they perceive it as a success,” says Potasman. “This is the Middle East….one side is looking at this reality from one angle; the other side looks from a totally opposite angle. That’s why we cannot communicate with them on a regular, normal basis, because you see one reality, and you look at this and you say, ‘Hey, what else can we do, to kill them? I mean, to kill them softly?’ And they look at this and they say, ‘Hey, we were able to hit Beersheba and Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. So our understanding of the reality and their understanding of the reality is totally different. It’s not the same book.”

Karl Vick has been TIME's Jerusalem bureau chief since 2010, covering Israel,the Palestine territories and nearby sovereignties. He worked 16 years at the Washington Post in Nairobi, Istanbul, Baghdad, Los Angeles and Rockville, MD.

i have always wondered why muslims are creating trouble among themselves, e.g. in syria. muslim sects are killing each other for some reason only they, themselves know. and they are brothers!

being a student of both the bible and the quran, i have found the answer to my query. see genesis 16:12 'and he(ismail) will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him,......' it means that ismail's(arabs?) destiny had been predestined before he was born. i hope i am wrong, but it's there for all to see.

Doesn't matter what brain washing cult or belief system you aspire to 'Turn the other cheek' and you betcha someone will be ready to give the other one a good smacking as well. Zionism and Islam are both inflexible and self deluding belief system - neither is prepared to admit any failings or weaknesses in their beliefs and thus will never be able to live together in harmony and/or peace. Therefore he that lives in a glass house - better make sure they have more stones and a good umbrella before they start chucking them at anyone else.

all is conspiracy and personal interest. so arrogant and egoism. All the advantages goes to the one who create a weapons. they don't even bother citizens has the right to live in peaceful place.They speak out load against human right, peace is human right. they still create a weapons and start a war.

Israel technology is great. We all should pray for the peace of these country. I feel very sad when I read about the country Israel that how amazingly this country is facing the warnings of mu slim from ages. Being so small but greatly blessed. Sometimes I also read about its journey and how amazing that this country's journey is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I appreciate Jews and their patience , their will power to defend themselves from predators in arab world. indians should learn from the experiance of the jews, on how to fight the enemy at any circumstances. Though the Americans protected them but still they managed to be self reliant on the defence field. Kudos to israel

To reduce the cost sensibly low, Israel has to work together with India, share technology, come up with 100% success in intercepting missiles from Gaza and elsewhere. Working with Kremlin, India and Russia came up with a phenomenal missile that can only be matched by other super powers not before 20 or 30 years of trial and error. The ball is, therefore in Israel's playground. Israel must realize that India has never been unreliable with its collaborators..

Funny how Israel are being accused of being bullys just for building a system that protects her citizens. If Israel really wanted to be the bully they could fly their airforce over Gaza and flatten it with daisy cutters, but no, they choose to take the more defensive and humane option and suprise suprise, they are still hailed as the bad guy.

The World War 1 was a conspiracy by Briton and the West. They declared war against the Ottoman Empire, Turkey which ruled most of the Middle East including Iran and Palastine. It is the like of what happened to Iraq, Afghanistan lately. They very well knew Afghan didn't have that Iron Dome. They ruthlessly TOMAHAWH for seven days and night before going on foot. Coward!. With the help of the 3 Pashas and an Arab Major they managed too split the Arab world under their rule until of late. Then, they managed to create the Arab Saudi and Iranian, and Iraqian and Syrian etc., kingdoms. But most important of all they created the Greater Israel with Palaestine as the State of Israel. This 3rd World will defy their hiding behind the Dome for even the tree that hide them will reveal their identity. Bro. the Ttruth is coming. Ref: The Lost Islamic World.

Please take note and check your Torah and Injeel : The religion of Abraham is 'Hanif'. He was neither a Jew or a Christian. Christian came into being 43AC after the ascension of Jesus. Saul a Jewish Rabbi from Antioch that created Christianity. He is now known as St Peter. Bro. Plse turn on YT ' The Great British Islam doc by BBC which reveals who Mamaduke Pictall. At first I thought he was a India like A Yussof Ali. Ple see the contra. Allah bless bro.

israel is the biggest violator of international law. The USA just vetos every UN mandate against them. Any way, funny that all this big article is devoted to a system developed by a powerful nation oppressing a tiny strip of land and mostly defenseless people who have to make rockets out of pipes. and somehow the tiny nation is always the terrorist, barbaric, ignorant, nonsensical, violator, killer, sub human etc etc. Talk about the bully running to the principal and crying. and in this case the bully has all the tools to convince everyone else that in fact by killing others he is actually somehow saving humanity??? and to the USA, look where supporting israel has got u... a police state, people beaten and tasered to death by cops, harassment at the airport, on the verge of collapse... people tried to tell u years ago but u fell for the lies that the Muslims are the enemies, when your enemy was much closer to you.

But the truth will always prevail, even though the oppressor hates and tries to stop it. only question is: which side are you gonna be on?

The Jewish state may have over-estimated US commitment to their defense. If the sentiment from the opinions posted here are any guide, Israel will need more than Iron Dome the next time their enemies combine forces for a concentrated attack. Obama, is not their friend.

All the problems of rabid-islam are
actually Noble Israel's fault loud and clear. For 1400 years the noble Noble
Jews have let rabid-islam fester on this planet like rabies in a dog .

The noble Noble Jews should have
dealt with islam with an iron hand then and there when that main instigator of
rabid-islam was alive. Now see what has happened...rabid-islam is destroying
the full world. It is all the fault of the noble Noble Jews for not being full
of foresight and dealing with rabid-islam then and there when the number of
savages or vermin in human clothing a.k.a muslims was not significant.

Now the noble Noble Jews are the
first to be doomed . The noble jew will be the first mass extinction by
savagery that television will help us witness. The numbers of rabid and ready
savages are just too many to deal with.

It is now too too too late for the
noble Noble Jews and we are all politely next in line. Rabid-islam will now infect
and swallow the world country by polite country and polite culture after polite culture . With our good manners and
co-existant thoughts we have gently and politely placed our necks on the
guillotine of rabid-islam.

We are ready to die rather than
fight and hurt feelings of savages and vermin. Why shoot dead -as prescribed- the
rabid dog in this age of political correctness and rampant idiocy passing around
as lucid thoughts.

Telescopes and microscopes we had
but we denied ourselves our lives because we refused to put on our reading
glasses and read and understand just one rabid book called the Koran. Even our
supreme courts did not read and question it because the feelings of savages and
vermin might be hurt ? So sad....so what ?

The poisonous and rabid bite of
islam has today in just a mere 1400 years got the planet gasping and frothing
for life. We are all finished and the noble Noble Noble Jews are to be blamed
once again for letting islam fester and putrify on this lovely planet. It's has
to be the fault of the noble Noble Jews ...they should have seen islam coming
1400 years back. Finished...the savage numbers are against the Noble Noble Jews.
Rabid-islam is making monkeys out of humans...this is scientifically classified as
Reverse-Darwinism. This is the our planet's last thought as islam
renames Planet Earth as the true Planet of the Apes. WOW !!!

Sometimes don’t you think the
savages are angry at their own misfortunate births in the wrong wombs. Once misfortunately
born to a muslim mother there is no escape from the misfortune of forced
savagery and compulsive idiotic thoughts and this dim realisation in the dimmer
recesses of their self–made dark minds fills them with the rage that is pent up
in them since the birth of this savage cult.

The self-realisation of being
vermin and being recognised in society as vermin... Deadly!! Can you imagine a
savage’s plight and anger at all of us that can see him or her as he or she
sees himself or herself today...PURE VERMIN. As long as there is even one
non-muslim on the planet muslims know they will be viewed only as
vermin....which they know they are...so we just have to be all wiped–out.

We have to be wiped-out for islam’s
dirty sake. So what ???

WE HAVE TO SUBMIT TO SAVAGERY FOR
SAVAGERY'S

SAKE OR ELSE SAVAGERY'S FEELINGS
MIGHT BE HURT.

The leftist politically correct
exclamation these days is not “God Forbid”!.... but rather “SAVAGERY FORBID” !!

@vivekm.ktc Please don't be so delusional... to think there is a country in which few call Israel, no more than a place called the Middle East. These Imperialist ideas to slice and dice the World does not change facts even when they are ignored. Leave the matrix and step into reality.

There is no such idea as 3rd, 2nd and 1st Worlds, there is only ONE... this idea of man-made borders are for those who lack imagination. :)

@DannyShaneFreed Its such a shame to see the world media is portraying palestinians as the victim and Israel as the terrorist state. If those outfits who fight against Israel has the Power of Israeli Armed forces, they would already burned the whole Israel. I respect the endurance and strength of this tiny but powerful country, which defended its citizen from all such attacks for such a long period

@GhaniDesa Really? Really Britain and the West declared war on the Ottoman Empire Really? WW1 started when Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand was killed by a Serbian Terrorist part of the black hand which caused Austria to declare war on Serbia and Russia to Declare war on Austria then forcing Germany to declare war on Russia. The rest follows with France declaring war on Germany and then Britain declaring war on Germany because Germany invaded Belgium. Uneducated much????

WW1 was cause by tension in Europe and an alliance system. They only declared war on Turkey so the British and French could assist Russia on the Eastern Front and since Turkey controlled the Dardanelles.

And the USA had an isolationist policy towards the War. They only got involved because of the sinking of the Leucetania and the Zimmerman telegraph

@GhaniDesa Your second paragraph is accurate. Your first paragraph is bare faced lies , re-writing history in the most pathetic way possible. The causes of World War 1 had nothing to do with any antipathy between Briton and the Ottoman Empire at all. Nothing. Grow up, and don't try to sanctify your politics with lies. And while you're at it... dicuss please, and explain the atrocities that the Taleban were conducting in Afghanistan, the murders, rapes and closing of all female education, in the name of Islam?.. nothing further from Islam's teachings of "love" than that. Like it or not, Afghanistan has swapped slavery for civil war, conducted not by Aghanis, but largely by Suadis and Pakistanis, with a quite afew Somalis joing too,. Call it Jihad if you like, but it is in truth, politically motivated psychopathy. Yes, criticise the Americans, but also criticise the enemies of man, of woman, of humanity and of love. It is for those latter haters that I pour the most scorn.

@mo.salehnz ...Israel has the right to defend herself against those nations, whose sole intent is to destroy her. The God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, is the God of Israel. The God who created the universe. Guess on whose side I am. God will destroy all the enemies of Israel. Touch not God's beloved. Be warned.

@dstnrunner Israel has more that the "Iron Dome" (Short range interceptor) ... and the "Arrow" (long range interceptor) and the "David sting" (Medium range interceptor) all Israeli technological invention and development. The
United States had decided to participate in funding the production of this missile
as she did with the other 2 missiles. She is doing so in three conditions: That
these missiles will be produced by Americans (with Israeli small participation)
on American soil and will provide work for thousands of Americans; That America
will get access to the technological secrets that Israel has developed and be
allowed to use them to build their missiles; and that Israel wouldn’t sell
these missiles to a third country without the consent of America. You could say
that the U.S. is the greatest beneficiary of these Israeli projects. BTW, the
U.S. acted in that manner previously with other kind of Military and technology
products, components and gadgets. This is part of the quite aid that Israel
gives to America for years but the main general public is not that aware of.

@passthrough The same way we can say on the cracked American fortress ... Hawk and Patriot missiles... and many others. In the other way Israel IS really threatened daily by many Islamic forces. It's not imagination.

@Lion@ssrikkanth62 Blame the English and the Yanks - they just wanted a problem to go away. Zionism and Islam will never live together in peace - they know each others failures and sins too well to ever admit either.

@Lion@ssrikkanth62 Jews have lived in that area, continuously, as long as the Arabs and their forebears have lived there. You should learn some history. This conflict, in its present form, has been going on for more than 100 years -- ever since the Dreyfus Affair in France and the pogroms in Russia induced many European Jews to move there. They were then under the relatively less oppressive (at least for Jews) rule of the Ottomans.

The Balfour Declaration gave some of land to the Jews and part to the Arabs. The British Foreign Office, realizing that they still owed some Arabs a piece of land in the area further divided Palestine into Palestine and Transjordan. The Arab Legion conquered the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) and renamed their country Jordan (they were no longer Trans). After the 1967 War, Jordan lost Judean and Samaria and their part of Jerusalem. After that war, the Egyptians did not want Gaza back and the Jordanians did not Judea and Samaria back. The rest is history.

Lion, the Israeli Jews came from elsewhere -- Europe and Middle Eastern countries -- Morrocco, Yemen, Egypt, Iraq, and Iran. These countries had large Jewish populations at one time who somehow "disappeared." In addition, the land was bought from absentee Arab and Turkish landowners and the farm workers were displaced by the new owners (not good social policy). In a similar fashion, the Americans came to the present location form elsewhere, stole land from the native population, and settled with the help of Europeans. If you wish to blame all the culprits, you should include the British and French Foreign Offices for dividing up the Middle East to suit themselves, the United Nations for recognizing Israel, the corrupt and militarily weak Ottomans for allowing the British and French to gin control of the area, and as the "Arab Spring" has shown, Arab governments.

@Lion@ssrikkanth62 Now at least that part of land is free of Jehadis. Civilised world should be grateful to the Jews, at least they have fighting with the jehadis in there heartland, if jews not settled there, than these jehadis have free safe heaven in Arab to export terrorism to the civilised society.

@Emeth@Lion@ssrikkanth62 So can you please explain why only since the occupation.... this place that some call Israel has become 2nd, next to Australia in the world with the highest rates of cancer?

Australia has the highest incidence of melanoma in the world and
melanoma is often referred to as Australia's national cancer. The most serious form of
skin cancer. The 2nd high incidence of breast cancer in Israel attributed to 'Jewish gene' mutation common among Ashkenazi Jews. DNA evidence shows that both Ashkenazi Jews and the European Australians did not come from those regions in the world. ... ignoring facts don't make it true.

That said, tell the world again how we can wrap our minds around the fact that some who called themselves Jews left that region supposedly 3-thousand years ago as "Black" people, then return 50-years ago to the region as "White" people?... I suppose the Europeans in America must prepare to return their land back to those who they slaughter so they could occupied their land without anyone staking a claim.

Only a mind who lacks basic science at every level could think such a thing.